Couldn't resist...

Should be resting up for Sundays 100k .. but blue skies, snow on ground and hills on the doorstep so just did a lovely 5.5 miler in the Pentlands.. lovely day, not too cold either. Finally feel like I'm shifting a chesty cough.. only had my trusty Adidas adizero's, but they were fine. I love those trainers..

Krkonose Mountains Day 2

Day 2 in the Krkonose was a run up Sniezka, 1602m, which is the highest peak in the Czech republic, gradual climbing, all runnable, then joined the ridge and looped back via Skop. The final climb to the summit is the half way point in the marathon karkonoski, its steep, but on a well paved trail, then a loop around and back down the gradually descending path pictured cutting across the face.. its then an undulating trail run back before repeating the ridge from day 1. There's nothing to scare the UK runner really, no huge ascents or descents, no altitude.. just a brutally runnable route which could well have temps of 25-30 C on the day. 

Krkonose Day 1. recce of Karkonoski Marathon

Drove out to Poland last night, had an epic drive due to just google mapping and following the instructions.. ended up spinning off on a bend at an entirely avoidable mountain pass.. luckily bounced off a snow bank with no damage at all.. 

This is the world long distance mountain running champs later this year so came out to recce the route. It basically runs along the Polish Czech border, almost out and back but finishing on a summit.. so I reccied the first and last 1/4's.. stunning area, -8 C in the village in Poland and with strong winds the summits were wild. It'll be an awesome race, lots of short runnable climbs, starts off with 4-5 miles of up hill, a good 800m.. then just ridge running on good trails (when not snow covered) almost always above 1000, out to the highest peak in the Czech republic, then back along the ridge but don't descend and finish with a final short climb to summit above the start. It's basically a fast, very hilly trail marathon, perfect for the World's long distance.. 3 peaks is the only thing like it really, but less long descents.

More photos here: https://picasaweb.google.com/117655869228263048274/23Marz2013?noredirect=1#

The foam roller rules

I've been training with Andreas, a personal trainer in Rostock.

http://www.aloha-vitalis.de/

He's been working with myself and Tsotleho, a runner from Lesotho. He's a 67 minute half marathoner so class to train with, but he's also not loving the German winter so at the moment we are just doing sessions on the treadmill.

With Andreas we've been doing lots of stretching, squats and rolling on the foam rollers.. its agony at first but already after a week its much less painful and has certainly helped my IT Band.. so for now I'm accepting it in my training... as I'm running more, and more quality, I think I need to be more proactive on injury prevention..

Dropped the mileage this week..

Sunday, steady 11 mile trail run in the forest.
Monday, Monday lunch steady 4.5 mile trail run. eve: treadmill warm up, 5k at 16 kph, cool down.
Tuesday, 5 miles at 6 am. afetrnoon: 1.5 hrs soccer. Evening treadmill, warm up, 3 x 1 mile at 18 kph
Wednesday: 6.5 miles on the treadmill. 2 miles at 10-15% incline..
Thursday: lunch: 4.5 mile trail run, pm: treadmill, 5 x 1k at 18 kph.
Friday: am 12.5 k, with 10 k at 15kph.. 10k at the gym again..
Saturday will be a 15-20 mile trail run in the Krkonose mountains on the Polish/Czech border..

Lots of treadmill miles, but its snowed here heavily all week so I was cautious to be out too much and risk slipping as its now just a week til the 100k. Football was a risk but I took it easy.

75-80 miles for the week, and a reasonable amount of quality..

The new gaff....

So this is my new flat (hopefully).. not a running post at all, but I'm hoping to sign the contract this week, its bang in the centre of Rostock, in one of the old buildings, basically the roof space.

Anglo-celtic plate 100k preview

So its now 2 weeks to the main race for the first part of the year, the anglo-celtic 100k.. again I'm running for Wales.. its been 19 weeks of good training and 101  days straight running since the Paddy Buckley, but including the paddy (which was one of my lowest mileage weeks), its been 19 weeks of solid mileage.

Averaging around 87 miles a week.. I'm happy with where I am. My week has been a long run of 20+ miles and a long midweeker of 14-16 miles, then 2 rep/hard sessions then general mileage. Pretty much basic marathon training.. so I'll find out how it works for ultra's. I've raced probably every 2 weeks, but have also ran 2:39 in a marathon, so with the miles, the pb, I'm pretty sure I'm entering this fitter than ever..  Main thing has been lots of running.. the hill walking has gone.. all runnable miles..

My PB is 7:35, I've ran 7:49, 7:42 and 7:35 and a DNF.. (running in an arm cast).. so it'll be hard to beat.. so my basic plan is run a sub 3 marathon and hope like hell I maintain some form... certainly sub 3 pace from the off is not a crazy call, its almost 1 min/mile off my marathon pace..I've been pretty public that my aim is sub 7:30.. which I think is a realistic aim.. but 100k's can go badly.. we'll see..

But its now taper time, 70 miles this week, 40-50 next week..

This is my last 19 weeks mileage, pretty consistent.. we'll see. its now just about good diet, sleep, no drink and stay injury free..

82.53	week 1
80.1	2
80.06	3
104.8	4
79.25	5
83.37	6
90.09	7
80.03	8
83.01	9
97.41	10
93.39	11
90.03	12
90.08	13
85	14
75.11	15
95.13	16
90.35	17
103.22	18
104.17	19

Harz day 2

Sunday morning was a 12 mile XC ski over one of the shoulders on Brocken and then an evening run up the wurmberg again, followed by a pretty horrible drive home in the blizzard.

Harz weekend

So this weekend I opted to visit the local 'mountain'.. Brocken.. home of the Brocken Spectre and at 1142m high is one of the highest mountains in Germany outside Bavaria..

The Harz national park used to divide East and west germany so the old border is marked.

Anyway this morning was a 16.5 mile run up to Brocken summit, nice runnable trails, but due to snow coverage going was slow...

This afternoon/evening was another 7.5 miles of langlauf... XC skiing, superb trails, finished in the dark with my head torch.

Grim day, cloud to the valley, drizzle but close to zero temps so black ice everywhere... The pic below of the tower block in the mist is the summit hotel on Brocken.. from old military installations to hotels to a train station.. think Wyddfa x 10...

Main find was my hotel, pension Parblick, 18 euros a night, for an ensuite B&B.. basic but cosy and very homely..

Nord Ostsee Sparkasse Wintermarathon and Rostock Heide

Ran the above Marathon at the weekend, organised by Husum running club (http://www.lav-husum.de/). Its basically out 13 miles and back on cycle ways, slightly undulating but a hard headwind for the first half made it hard going. I won in 2:39:54, first time sub 2:40, after catching the leader after 20 miles.

Today I went for an 11 mile trail run in Rostocker Heide, a large forest just outside the city. Photos of that above. The running in Rostock seems pretty good, plenty of bike trails set off the road, like above, and softer trails.. just no hills.